Annoyed By Spotify's Policy, Dee Snider Says Daniel Ek Must Be Shot

Dee Snider (Instagram @deesnider)

JAKARTA - Vocalist Twisted Sister, Dee Snider, criticized Spotify by calling CEO Daniel Ek shot for providing unfair compensation to artists.

This streaming platform is often criticized for the low tariffs paid to artists, which has left many artists struggling to make enough money directly from their music. Recently, Spotify has controversially changed the threshold for streaming royalties by 1000 views before the song can generate royalties.

According to Spotify data, there are about 100 million songs in this service, but only about 37.5 million songs meet new requirements to generate revenue.

Snyder's criticism of his platform and CEO, which he did not name, appeared during an interview with YouTube podcast The Jeremy White Show.

"The guy from Spotify, I want to tell you, he should be taken and shot," said Snider (via Consequence of Sound), possibly referring to Ek.

"When he heard artists complain about how little pay we received, his response was 'Make more music' - like we're producing Coca-Cola cans. [Increase] its production. [It's] insulting and belittled," continued the rocker.

Snider's initial criticism refers to an widely circulated interview in 2020 where Ek says that You can't record music every three to four years and think it's enough.

Snyder later revealed that his main source of revenue from music came from licensing, mostly from the big hit song Twisted Sister, We're Not Gonna Take It, and his income was very low from streaming Spotify.

Licensing is the last award, the last oase where you can actually make money, "he said. Steven Spielberg chose We're Not Gonna Take It for Ready Player One. Thank God, because I didn't get anything from Spotify.